Industrial production up 4.4% in November

The volume of industrial production in November has increased by 4.4% from a year earlier, the Department of Census and Statistics said yesterday.

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) reported for November 2017 and 2016 were 108.9 and 104.3 respectively.

DCS Director General Dr. A.J. Satharasinghe said the department compiles a number of economic indicators including IIP on a regular basis. The Government as well as industries uses this economic data to understand the trends and patterns of the Sri Lankan economy, identify the drivers of economic growth, evaluate economic performance for the formulation and assessment of economic policies. 

IIP conveys the status of production in the industrial sector of an economy in a given period of time, in comparison with a fixed reference point in the past. It reveals the short-term changes of the industrial sector.

The manufacturing industries ‘Coke and refined petroleum products’, ‘Fabricated metal products’ and ‘Basic pharmaceutical products’ have shown remarkable increases of 26.5%, 23.6% and 17.0% respectively in their volume of production during November 2017 compared to that of November 2016. The volume of food products has increased by 3.4%.

However, the volume of the manufacturing industries ‘Beverages’, ‘Wood and product of wood’ and ‘Furniture’ reported decreases in November 2017 by 21.8%, 12.2% and 11.1% respectively during this period.

The DCS stated that further details on the monthly IIP of November 2017 have been published on its website www.statistics.gov.lk/Industries.